If you are a banker, the world of the Internet – as you currently know it – is about to change. The global banking community, supported by dozens of associations and industry leaders such as the American Bankers Association and the Financial Services Roundtable, will have the opportunity to create a new online location for their businesses. Right now, more than a thousand new domain extensions are making their way to the Internet – but only one has been created by banks, for banks.
It’s called Bank-Domain.

The Bank-Domain is a new, more secure Internet domain for banks. It is an easily identifiable channel for trusted communications between banks and their customers. And the Bank-Domain is a place for growth and innovation.

Only verified members of the banking community can have a Bank-Domain domain for their trademarks, trade names and service marks.

Banks contend with a range of operational issues, from launching and cross-selling financial products, to improving customer retention, to meeting compliance and regulatory requirements. In addition, banks must protect their assets and operations from the very real threat of cyber security. Migrating to a Bank-Domain domain provides a lot of answers and options.

The Bank-Domain is brand new - and how banks use the new domain will undoubtedly vary. But there is one thing every bank has in common regarding their Bank-Domain – time.
“It’s important that banks get ready now,” said Craig Schwartz, managing director of fTLD, the private company that is owned, operated and governed by banks, insurance companies and their respective trade associations. “Our research with banks shows a high level of awareness about the .bank domain. However, they may not yet realize the process, the implications, or the full value that a .bank domain can deliver. If banks delay, they run a risk of being unable to secure their preferred web address. No other domain can match the caliber of value, security and trust like a .bank address.”

In fact, enhanced security requirements are one of the primary reasons for banks to consider when evaluating the new domain, according to fTLD’s market research. Schwartz explained that fTLD will implement a series of critical controls not currently required by the operators of any other commercial domain, in order to mitigate existing cyber risks and build a high-trust environment for users of the Bank-Domain.

“With today’s technology, we know there is no silver bullet that will eradicate the malicious activities that are propagated over the Internet,” said Schwartz. “But the security requirements fTLD mandates for the .bank domains will bring a level of trust and protection that exceeds that available in any existing commercially available gTLD.”

Only banks, association of banks, and key provider of the bank industry are entiteled to register Bank-Domains.

Banks can register domains at the Bank-Domains, which correspond to their names, trade marks and service trademarks. The Name Policies of the Bank-Domain open a wide field of possibilities: Acronyms, geographical additions, omissions, prefixes and suffixes are for example permitted.

Standard Bank-Domains cost 950 US-Dollars per domain and year. Beside the Standard Bank Domains exist Premium Domains, like e.g. single-characters and two-letters-domains, which are more expensive at registration and renewal. If you should have selected a Premium Domain, we will inform you about the price before registration and you can decide wether you want to proceed the registration or not.

The registry reserves the right, to reject an application for a Bank-Domain.

The same registry offers now also a domain extension for the insurance industry with the same high technical standards - called .insurance .